Suddenly Jewish

Jews raised as gentiles discover their Jewish roots.

Suddenly Jewish is the name of a beautiful little (126-page) book by Barbara Kessel, Director of Administration of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York. The subtitle of the book reveals its fascinating premise: Jews Raised as Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots. From Madeline Albright and other Holocaust descendants to crypto-Jews from Italy and Jamaica, the book describes the search for identity that characterizes the lives of all of us, but especially of those who discover that they are not really who they thought they were. Because of the Albright experience, the author placed an ad in the Sunday New York Times Book Review section asking: "For a book on identity, I would like to interview individuals raised as non-Jews who discovered that they are of Jewish descent." This book is the result of interviews with over 160 people who responded to her "author's query." This is a three-handkerchief book that is at points also hilariously funny. The author lets her subjects speak for themselves, never pontificates or is judgmental and presents this case study in the search for identity in its true and complicated light.

The reactions of the people to the discovery of their Jewishness varied greatly. Some were relieved, feeling that a deep gnawing monster that they somehow felt was living within them was now exposed and defeated. Others, like Albright, seemingly ignored the entire matter and continued on with their previous life as though nothing important had happened to them. Close to 30% changed their lives and became passionately Jewish in commitment and behavior.

The main sections of the book deal with the descendants of crypto-Jews, Sephardic in origin and living mainly in the southwestern United States; hidden Jewish children in the Holocaust who were raised as non-Jews by adoptive and foster families; and children of Holocaust survivors who were never told by their parents of their Jewish ancestry.

The author compares the stories of the "hidden children" -- Jewish children who were raised as non-Jews by protective Christian families during the years of the Holocaust -- to the biblical story of Moses who was raised in the palace of the Pharaoh and returned to lead the Jews out of Egyptian bondage. The "hidden children" fell into two types: "people who were psychologically injured by their experiences, and people who emerged from their traumatic backgrounds with enhanced strengths and talents." One of the most well known of the "hidden children" is Abraham Foxman, the feisty, observant, proactive, executive head of the Anti-Defamation League in America.

"I wore a crucifix. I went to church regularly. I cried when they called me Jew." Abe Foxman

Abe Foxman was only five when his parents reappeared in 1945 to reclaim him from his Polish nanny who hid him successfully during the war. Abe was then a devout Catholic. "I wore a crucifix. I went to church regularly. I cried when they called me Jew. Now my father, the first time he took me to synagogue was on Simchat Torah. He figured I'd like it because it's a joyous festival full of singing and dancing. On the way there, I passed a church. I crossed myself, I greeted the priest, I kissed his hand, and my father understood. The Jewish children picked me up and danced with me, and I came home and told my mother, 'I like Jewish church.' Little by little, he took off my cross and replaced it with tzitzis 'fringes'. I used to say prayers in Latin; he taught me to pray in Hebrew. Both languages were Greek to me. I was happy. I had substitution. He just said, don't kneel. Becoming Jewish was a growing process. My parents had wisdom beyond the normal. If my parents had perished, I would have been raised to be a priest. My caretaker believed in the Church. I was a good Catholic."

Foxman continues: "I'm convinced there are thousands of Jews who don't know they are Jewish, especially in Poland. Poland was the worst. There were more Jewish children at risk [there] and therefore there were more opportunities to save them. Every day we lose potential Jewish souls there because their foster parents die without telling them that they had Jewish parents -- either because they don't want to discombobulate their lives or because of the stigma of having saved Jews or because they feel guilty for not having told them before. All these things conspire against truth telling. Our agency [for discovering 'hidden children'] tries to celebrate the idea of rescue in Poland. We try to make rescuing lives a value. We go there and applaud what they did so that it will be easier for the truth to come out. If the shame of helping Jews is removed, more revelations can surface. I've visited Poland three times, each time for a public effort to recognize Christian rescuers, and each time more Jewish children emerge."

Foxman ruefully concludes: "I joke that I'd like to put up signs that say, 'Don't be anti-Semitic; after all, you too, might turn out to be a Jew!'"

Pierre Sauvage is a prize-winning film director. He made the documentary film, Weapons of the Spirit, about the French town, Le Chamon-sur-Lignon, which hid 5000 Jews from the Nazis. Pierre's parents were among those 5000 and he was born there in 1944. His parents immigrated to New York after the war and completely hid their Jewish origins from their son. He was raised with a Christmas tree and attended a private French school in New York City. Finally, at age 18, as he was leaving to study in Paris, his parents told him that they were Jewish.

"When you erase your heritage, you rob your children of self-knowledge."

"Was it a shock? I don't remember. A surprise, for sure. They told me in such a way as to say, it's not important, and I accepted that characterization. Many years after my parents told me, I remained in hiding, in effect. I couldn't identify with it. It didn't feel like me. All those ten years in Paris, I never entered a synagogue. I had not one Jewish experience. As I made Weapons of the Spirit, I got to know the people of Le Chambon who saved my parents and so many others. It was those Christians who changed my view of religious people. The more I came to know and admire them, the more I came to realize that it was their strength of identity that made them act. They knew who they were. I am, perhaps [now] becoming a Jew, with the essential help of my [Jewish] wife and my eight year old son, and what I increasingly believe to be common sense: that one derives from being one's self, and that one's self is rooted, among other things, in one's heritage and one's history. When you erase your heritage, you rob your children of self-knowledge. That's an argument for religion, isn't it? The beliefs of your ancestors are part of you. They shaped you. To not know what shaped you is to be weakened."

The third section of the book deals with the children of Holocaust survivors. Kessel notes: "Children of survivors are exquisitely sensitive to their parents' history. They dare not add to their parents' abundant measure of anguish. Even into adulthood, these children are careful to shield their parents from bad news, from failure, from any more blows to the psyche. They instinctively know that if their parents have not been forthcoming with information, they are not to initiate a painful discussion, even if they come across indisputable evidence of the unmentionable past."

In an interview with the Dutch child of a mother who survived the Holocaust and then denied her Jewish roots, she records the following: "My mother met my non-Jewish father after the war. When he proposed, she told him that she was Jewish, but swore him to secrecy. Growing up we had a Christmas tree, but it had no religious significance for us. My father's study of human civilization convinced him that organized religion had done more harm than good over the centuries, but he was in no way against religious people. We did not even have a Bible in the house, and I was probably the only child in my public school who never heard of Abraham or Moses or the Exodus from Egypt.

"One day when I was 14, the newspaper was thrown through the mail slot in the door, and I heard my mother wail, 'Oh no, not again.' It was many years before I figured out what 'again' referred to. I instinctively turned to the paper she was staring at and read the headline, which was in much larger print than usual: 'ISRAEL AT WAR AGAIN.' I had never heard of Israel, but I read the paper, which had lots of background articles about modern Israeli history from 1948 to the present. I found it fascinating, so I went to the library and took out some books about Israel. It became a hobby for me, like stamp collecting. The history books referred back further and further, until I was reading about events of 2000 years ago. It took a year or two for me to figure out that this was the biblical period, and I decided to go right to the source. I also began corresponding at that time with an Israeli pen pal. I bought a Bible and ripped out the New Testament section. The way I understood it, the Old Testament was a historical account, and the New Testament was a religious document, and I knew from my father that organized religion led to no good... The next logical step was for me to learn Hebrew so I could read the text in the original... By the age 16, I had read the Old Testament all the way through six or seven times. It's hard to explain but I started to see a pattern in it. I mean, I started to see the hand of God. It was a slow process, but it became apparent to me that there was a metaphysical dimension to what I first thought only as stories."

"My rabbi likened my story to a tiny oven pilot light that's always on but waiting to be fueled into a blazing flame."

The interviewee began to study with a rabbi and to consider conversion to Judaism. He stated: "One day I was in my room practicing the Hebrew Grace after Meals text when my mother walked in, looked over my shoulder at the page I was reading, and started reading it with me. It was the first time she had seen Hebrew since before the war. I didn't react, because I didn't connect it to her being Jewish. That was not a possibility in my mind. When she caught herself, she stopped short and sputtered that she had been an au pair to a Jewish family and had to learn Hebrew in order to help the children with their homework. I really thought nothing of it. [When I was in the army] I spent most weekends at home, and went to services at the local synagogue where I would join the hazzan for lunch and spend the afternoon with his family studying the Bible. It was a wonderful time for me. Until then I had only been reading, but those weekends were the first time I actually experienced Judaism, lived it in a community setting. I scheduled an inpatient circumcision, and two weeks before my conversion ceremony, I told my parents that I was about to convert. At that point, when she saw that it was truly going to happen, my mother sat me down and told me her story. It was a great, great shock. I was numb...She explained to me why she left Judaism which I, of course, understood. She made me promise not to tell anyone we knew. To this day, she tells people that the reason I live in Israel is because I married an Israeli girl. My rabbi likened my story to a tiny oven pilot light that's always on but waiting to be fueled into a blazing flame."

Barbara Kessel writes in her conclusion that perhaps the most encompassing and positive conclusion regarding the phenomenon of recovered heritage came from Paul Goldreich, who said, "Nine times out of ten, finding out who you are is the most life-affirming adjustment you can make."

Featured at Aish.com:

About the Author

Rabbi Berel Wein is the founder and director of the Destiny Foundation. For over 20 years, he has been identified with the popularization of Jewish history through lectures, more than 1000 audiotapes, books, seminars, educational tours and, most recently documentary films.

Rabbi Wein has authored five Jewish history books ― including Faith and Fate, the story of the Jews in the Twentieth Century ― all of which have received popular and critical acclaim. His newest book is The Oral Law of Sinai, an illustrated history of the Mishnah logic, legend & truth.

Rabbi Wein, a member of the Illinois Bar Association, is the recipient of the Educator of the Year Award from the Covenant Foundation. Most recently, Rabbi Wein received the Torah Prize Award from Machon Harav Frank in Jerusalem for his achievements in teaching Torah and spreading Judaism around the world. Rabbi Wein lives and teaches in Jerusalem. Visit his site at http://www.rabbiwein.com

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 37

(32)
Seth,
August 3, 2017 10:20 PM

figured it out today, feeling a lot of emotions

Well, hell. That just happened. I can't believe my Great Grandma never even told my Grandma. I'm glad I got over being indoctrinated in Catholicism. Lol. Guess I will read that book about Jewish Humanism now.

(31)
md,
December 12, 2016 5:29 AM

to the posters who found out they are Jewish

You are Jewish only if your mother and her mother going all the way back are/were Jewish. DNA does not tell you that. Only family history tells you that. If you want to be Jewish and your mother, mother's mother and so on in your ancestry are/were not Jewish, you should speak to an Orthodox rabbi to find out what to do.

(30)
Gia,
February 4, 2016 4:21 AM

Shock

I am dealing with this now. I am dealing with the shock of not only finding out that I am Jewish, but also the anger and sadness after learning the fate of my family. Why they changed their names and to this day continue to. Why they were murdered and pushed from their homes. The confusion of trying to live my life as a Jew and trying to be accepted as one somehow. I found the true family name. I have some closure. Now I have to pick up the pieces and in a way restart my life with a different identity.

(29)
Anonymous,
June 7, 2014 9:11 PM

I was in ulpan learning Hebrew when one of the students from the Ukraine gave this story: She had been raised Catholic and one day her anti-semitic grandmother yelled at her that she was a dirty Jew. This alerted her to the fact that she was Jewish and she up and left (age 17) and came to Israel to learn in the ulpan. She then went to marry someone in Jerusalem area where they speak only Yiddish.

(28)
Julie,
May 28, 2014 12:51 AM

DNA Testing

My maternal grandmother was adopted and, despite years of genealogical research, my mother was never able to find put anything about her mother's birth family. We finally decided to try another tack and ordered a DNA test from ancestry.com. We were astonished to find that my grandmother's heritage was about 15% European Jewish. DNA testing might help some of you who are seeking more information about your own backgrounds.

Gia,
February 4, 2016 4:14 AM

Yes!

That is how I found out about my ancestry. But one test was not enough. I took a test with every company and uploaded to gedmatch. Then I started reaching out to family. I learned the family secret. We are Jewish and our ancestors went through so much and being run out their country to go into hiding. But once I found out, so much made sense. All the puzzles finally fit.

(27)
Anonymous,
January 10, 2014 4:44 AM

Jewish Genealogy

I have had a similar experience. My father's family is Methodist/Catholic. My mother's family has a Jewish background. She told me when I was six, which is fortunate. I was raised semi-Jewish. I always felt that I was meant to be a Jew though I come from a very Christian area and am usually the "token" Jew which a couple of kids in grade school made me sadly aware of . I will always be proud of my Jewish background, no matter what it brings me.In recent times I began working on my genealogy. My sole purpose for doing this was to find my Jewish and Italian relatives. I instead found I was related to Winston Churchill and notable Celtic kings as well famous pilgrims. My Jewish Genealogy remains sparse.Jewish genealogy is one of the most difficult areas within genealogy. It is hard enough to find the names of Jewish relatives mentioned let alone proof of their religion. By the way Catholic genealogy appears to be more difficult. All you can do is try. I also cannot prove I'm Jewish though I observe the religion to the best of my ability. Aish has helped me a lot and I am sure will help much more.

(26)
LCSDCA,
November 26, 2013 4:11 PM

I can't proof my Jewishness

My grandma told me our family was Jewish. She said her Grandmother was half Jewish but converted to Christianity. I tried to look for proof but cannot find it. My family is from Germany and I have a rather detailed family tree now. However, no documents can be found. I wonder how the lovely people who found about about their Jewish heritage found proof? It seems like many documents vanished in WWII but I am eager to find proof. If somebody knows, please help me, I am desperate. I have always felt a deep connection to the Jewish people. I never understood the hate Jews got from around the world. Please help me. Please.

Genevieve,
March 7, 2015 10:38 AM

Maybe some help

I am in a similar situation. My German genealogy is easy to follow from a 1754 Monument with my German family crest. However, there is nothing in (Hanover) Germany...nothing. Family have traveled to Germany and found nothing. When in college as a returning adult I had a German student friend who asked questions for me in Germany and gave me info, but the tiny little hint, that sent me in the right direction, was that the name on the Monument was most likely wrong. I reread EVERYTHING, and found that the Land grant in Ohio which the monument was on, was signed with a totally different name. I found a book that said this famous ancestor always signed his name like it was on the land grant, never spoke English, and would not let the minister in his church speak English. Then I stumbled onto some famous Jewish people with the same name. WHAT A SHOCK! My Jewishness had been erased! I am sure they came here to escape something, that must have been so horrible, they changed their names and erased that part of their lives. So now I am hunting for my relatives in Germany (actually Prussia) in Latter-day Saints info. Now that I have the right name (not the name on the monument) I think there is hope. So first... find the right spelling of your Great-Grandmother's German/Jewish parent. I am also going to do a National Geographic DNA test which I am hoping will pinpoint where exactly to look, in what was Prussia, but is now Germany. Good luck, I prayed a blessing for you. PS: This info is not being taken so well by my GERMAN family, just a heads-up!

(25)
Gerharda,
November 26, 2012 2:59 AM

heritage

I would like to know if there is any way of checking if my decendants were Jewish - born in Holland 60 years ago with a sir name of van Egmond - I have been told that somewhere way back I have Jewish decendants. Raised a catholic and have never fitted in, also have searched a lot of different churches but have never felt at home. I believe in the one true God of Israel and have always tried to be faithful to him. I have always had a heart for the Jewish people. Forgive me if I offend anyone but I would like to make some sense of my beliefs. Are you able to help me. May the blessing of God be upon you.

(24)
Andreas,
August 14, 2012 2:51 PM

I was raised with family stories, that gradually made it obvious we were Jewish "hiding "in deep south. But everyone either denied or pushed it aside when I confronted them. Jews visiting in area recognized us, to extent of speaking Yiddish to my mother. But local people still did not catch on. Well a few army vets, kided my father in an uncertain way. . When I got to graduate school I decided to do something about "returning". I contacted several rabbis in University cities, in EVERY instance but one, I was "driven" away. Herein lies the problem, there are many, maybe millions even in US that would return but for 2 simple reasons. 1) the antimosity and arrogant diseregard (dislike) of potential Gerim by many conventional Jews & yes many Rabbis. 2) the "stigma" put out by the self-hating Jews, so common on the lunatic left in America. It is so strong, that some sincere "g-dfearers" just can not bring themselves to be identified with such nastiness. So while our religion is viewed as wonderful (onederful), the image of Jews is still unfortunate culturally. I have had several goyim friend tell me, that would have converted as Judaism is the best religion, but they could not handle other people seeing them in same light at many see "real" Jews (culturally). So we lose again & again. As one pointed out. A lot of "those" Jews would not be Jewish if they could "pass" for goyim. Interesting observation, is it not?.

Anonymous,
November 25, 2012 4:17 PM

While there are many self-hating Jews, there are many who are proud to be Jewish.
As for a "ger", in the orthodox community, as in others, they are to be revered and are respected, as they have worked hard to be who they are. I'm sure this is a rather simplistic explanation of why the gerim are respected.
Additionally, if Rabbis are not sure you are a Jew from birth, they are required to say "no" 3 times before they say yes. This is not meant to dissuade you if you really wish to pursue this path, if you really want to be Jewish, don't give up. That is the point of you being turned down.
Good luck in your endeavors and try to think positive.

DR Tishkoff,
September 29, 2014 9:52 PM

Part of rabbi's job is to deter converts to check how serious their intentions are

It is not meant to be rude or a deterrent ~ it literally is official customary practice that a potential convert must be stymied 3 times before he or she can be considered as a serious student ready to begin the process of conversion.

(23)
Paula,
September 13, 2011 12:32 AM

Information

I welcome anyone who can offer sources for my confirming my Jewish heritage. My aunt, before she passed, told me that my great aunt (maternal) had told her that we had a family secret. The "secret" of course was that we are Jews. I would love to be able to confirm this. We would be Ashkenazi Jews/German Jews. My mother's mother's name was Viola Violet Weiss or Wise. Thank you!

(22)
judithl.,
December 27, 2006 2:28 PM

I wrote a comment some time ago saying I was searching for my jewish roots. I found them! My mom's grandparents and on back in time were Jewish. When I found the answer to my prayers the feeling of having an empty space in my heart seemed to instantly fill up! While growing up I was raised christian. I went faithfully to church searching for G-d. I always had the feeling that I just did not fit. I tried but no matter there was a gnawing that I could not satisfy. Now I know what it was. That feeling is not there now and I no longer feel guilty for not going to sunday service. All the time growing up I would tell my mother sunday was not right and I wanted the Sabbath on Friday night. She asked me how do you know that? I said I dont know, it just feels right. So now I am blessed with the truth.

(21)
Caitlin Holt,
April 8, 2006 12:00 AM

Okay so I'm a young adult in my early twenties, I write this mostly for my Mom who has sought for the truth of her identity since she was a child.
She found it in the details, like her last name: Eisen. In her grandparents calling my grandpa Jack "Jacob" (pronounced "Ya-cub"), and wondering why everyone else called him "Jew-boy" (I knew my grandpa as the loudest person you could ever meet, as a kosher butcher in the Pike Place Market and as the guy who taught me how to fish and gut and clean and cook the fish the Native American way (I’m also 3 different tribes of Native American). In the family trait of being lactose-intolerant (those lactaid pills are just superb!), and why her family was never really accepted into any community even though they tried to blend, converting to a Christian religion (my mom told me that when she was growing up most people where she lived where Baptist or something)

My mom was raised Catholic but she never felt connected to it and wondered why. Her family for generations tried to hide the Jewish thing, but my mom has an unstoppable curiosity for the truth. So she read the bible, all the different versions of it. For various reasons she felt more connected to the original, rather than the catholic version she was raised with.
She was going to convert to Judaism right out of H.S. but she met my Dad and fell in love.
My Dad wasn't raised with any religion so they compromised because they both felt they should raise my brother and I with a positive community with good basic values that also would enable them to believe whatever they wanted, however they wanted.
My Brother and I grew up Unitarian Universalist, which I know to most people, sounds flimsy but it really was a good way to grow up.
As a result Andy (my bro) and I are both pretty decent people. My family was really quite involved in the community there.
My Mom & I would cater, I was a leader in the youth group, my Dad in the choir and Andy would debate with all the really intellectual old people and such (so did Mama and Dad). But a couple of years ago we sort of fell away from that community for several reasons. The main one being that because we weren't eye-to-eye with all of them on all political and state subjects we no longer felt welcome; which was weird for me.
Actually weird for me And my Mom when we attended a service at the synagogue that shared the space with the U.U. church, and it was like there was this clicking-into-place feeling, we gave each other this look afterward like we just knew that we belonged and that we both felt it.
In truth my mom always did, reading those bibles when she was a kid. For my mom it really all goes back to name. Eisen. It’s the need to feel like we belong somewhere.
As for religion today for my family: Andy tends to lean more in the direction of Atheism, my Dad is Agnostic-ish, I'm Agnostic with mostly Jewish overtones (I eventually think that I’ll convert, but it’s not the most important thing to me at this moment, right now it’s college and stuff), my Mom just wants to be Jewish, she does everything she can to connect to this world (she’s really big into research), except actually meeting with a Rabbi and starting the conversion process. This article & others like it help a lot to understand that we’re not really alone, other families are kind-of like this. The leap doesn’t seem like such a big one. However we know that there would be raised eyebrows for it from everyone else in the extended family and my brother too. So maybe we could be stealth Jews or something. Is this done?

Baruch Ben-Yosef,
August 14, 2012 1:04 PM

Hello Caitlin!

If your mother is Jewish, so are you - and no conversion is necessary. (But check with your nearest Orthodox rabbi.) Welcome home, and good luck with "college and stuff".

(20)
Anonymous,
April 8, 2003 12:00 AM

now i know i'm not abnormal!

A year and a half ago i discovered i was halachically Jewish and instead of being turned upside down, my world's been turned right side round ever since, everything just seems to fit now, i'm gonna buy the book and make everyone in my family read it! Thank G_d!

(19)
Barbara,
February 18, 2003 12:00 AM

Todda Rabba . Aish, Baruch HaShem!

I would like to thank Aish for their work, I too have learnt much through their site. My Abba, may his memory be a blessing, told me often that when "we" (our relatives) came to South Africa, we were no longer Jewish but became South Africans. As children we too were sent to Catholic school, but were warned not to bow to the statues. We were not to attend any of their church services. We too had the X-mas tree. But my parents could never agree on "religion", and so we didn't do much as a family. My Abba did give me a Tanakh which was quite old, and said that since I was "the religious one" of his children I should have it. I always seemed to have this void in me, this subconcious yearning, and when I told my Abba that my husband and all my children intended to convert to Judaism he asked why I insist so, because he said that being Jewish is one of the hardest roads to walk in life.

I do not blame him or any of my granparents, may their memories be a blessing. Since he was born just prior to the second world war, and by then the circumstance must have been difficult already, and since I have not walked in their lives, I cannot fathom what they went through to have come to such a point as to make the decisions that they did.

I am just thankful to HaShem Baruch Hu for enabling us to find HaShem and the Torah and choose it above idolatry.

(18)
Anonymous,
October 31, 2002 12:00 AM

You're SO lucky!

Oh, what I wouln't have done to have such luck!

I grew up raised as a Jew, and like so many Jews in America, I was indifferent to religion. I became observant at 32, and at 33, discovered that I WASN'T Jewish (because my mother's conversion was invalid according to Jewish law.)

I just spent the last year in total misery as I prepared for a conversion to Judaism. Thank G-d, now I can finally say "helo asani goy" every morning.

It strikes me as odd that one raised as a Christian (particularly a practicing, observant Christian) could suddenly embrace Judaism upon learning that their mother was Jewish. On the other hand, the Jewish neshumah (soul) is something special. And that spark may be tougher to snuff out than any other energy on earth. Thank G-d.

So when you who have discovered your true, Jewish identities find joy, love and G-d, rejecting in adulthood your entire life's religious education to embrace the truth, it makes me think hard about what Telushkin and Prager have written about the reasons for Jew Hatred in their excellent book, "Why the Jews?" The authors deconstruct all of the theories (economic, social, etc.) that attempt to explain universal Jew Hatred, and basically conclude that there's something spiritual happening. Your response seem to prove the authors correct - beneath the surface of our daily machinations, G-d is running the show, and we are His and His alone. Unless we're with Him and for Him, we're lost and homeless.

(17)
WENDY,
October 29, 2002 12:00 AM

no more gentile assimilation please!

I was raised in a gentile culture but always knew I was Jewish. Because of assimilation I denied my Jewish heritage. I married a Gentile and raised my three boys in a Gentile environment. I regret that I did not speak out against being assimilated. Now I am 44 and I am no longer keeping silent. I am living a Torah lifestyle, my husband is accepting to live this lifestyle, we are endevouring to help our boys to accept their Jewish heritage. My heart's desire is that our whole family make Aliyah to Israel. Thank you for your website aish, thank you to Rabbi Berel Wein. I know now that I am not the only one. Shalom!

(16)
Richard Vail,
October 29, 2002 12:00 AM

Grandson returns

I am undergoing conversion with my wife and stepchildren (my daughter is with HER mother who married a jewish man and is also undergoing conversion). I am the grandson on both maternal & paternal grandmothers who were jewish...it is truly like coming home. I feel happiest at shul. My wife has thrown herself wholeheartedly into becoming observant. When our conversions are completed, I will begin attending yeshivah so that I may become a rabbi...life is wonderful!!!!!

(15)
char,
October 27, 2002 12:00 AM

Discovering One's Jewish Roots

Thanks to Aish.com and other Jewish Outreach programs, some of us are reclaiming our Jewish heritage. The Rabbis and congregation of Beth Emeth welcomed me and the support to succeed to become a pleasing servant to HaShem is answer to my prayers. Shalom!

(14)
Rachael,
October 25, 2002 12:00 AM

My experience with this

My family has been friends with Patric Moraz for many years now (Patric was the keyboardist for both Yes and The Moody Blues).
He was raised a gentile. When his mother passed away a few years ago, he was at her deathbed. She told him then that he was Jewish.
Since then, he has been learing all about Judaism and striving to become more of a Jew.

(13)
Stefan,
October 24, 2002 12:00 AM

Our way back to the Jewish world are lives long

We are many children of Holocaust survivors who!s lives are a struggle to came back to the Jewish family.
We need help from to succed because our struggle is in a way a continutation of the Holucaust.The purpurse was to kill us as Jews and our way back are liveslong and very importend for the Jewish world.

I found out i was Jewish when my Jewish grandma swore in yiddish at a driver i asked what lanuage is that and why or how did she know that lanuage. She started sharing with me of who we are and what tribe we came from
I was about 9 years old .

(10)
marcia crocker,
October 23, 2002 12:00 AM

Being raised Gentile

My grandparents hid my Jewish roots from me. I found out when I happened on a old photograph with my great-grandparents last name{which had been changed}This story really touched my heart. I never cried though when I found out my ancestry but was elated. My wish is to come to Israel one day to be surrounded by other Jews and to experience the traditions, and just being Jewish. I love and appreciate my Aish mailings. Love you dearly, marcia

(9)
Donna Karen,
October 22, 2002 12:00 AM

It's unfortunate

...that while there are people go through all kinds of adversity and make such efforts in order to reach & learn about their Jewish roots...then there are those who are born & brought up Jewish who don't participate in Jewish life in any way!

(8)
Ben-Yehuda,
October 22, 2002 12:00 AM

Hidden jews

I read this article and I cried.
Last week I read The Last Jew from Noah Gordon and I cried my heart out.
I understood so much of my childhood; so many things fell in place. I got so many answers to unanswered questions. I am so sorry that I did not tell my parents "thank you for keeping me alive so that now I can fight for what you could not fight and for all my ancestors that were killed for being Jews"
I wish I could contribute somehow and devote the rest of my Life searching for those hidden Jews who are so lost to themselves and to us. I just do not know where to start.
If ever you think I can help, please please, get me, I will go anywhere ant place and will help getting our people together. We must do it for the spiritual survival of our people. We are Jews and we are very special people. Without us, the world would still be a very dark place, we illuminate the world. What pity that so many of us are still hiding afraid or because they don’t know that they are part of our magnificent heritage

(7)
corine skorski,
October 22, 2002 12:00 AM

I was born in France during World War II. My parents were deported from there
shortly after my birth,while I was left
as a ward of the Jewish Underground in
the region. In february 1944 ,at the
tender age of 11 months I was denounced
to the Gestapo in Paris who sent armed
soldiers to pick me at the gentile
orphanage where the underground had
hidden me. Through many miracles I was
saved from the clutches of the Gestapo
and then hidden in seven different
gentile families in the course of a little over a year. In 1945,my mother
returned from Auschwitz the sole survi
vor of our family. Having undergone
medical experiments at the hands of the
infamous doctor Mengele she never recove
red her mental health. Consequently she
was unable to raise me and entrusted me
to a non-Jewish family from the age of
two until eleven. My foster family
(Chassidei Humous Oolom) were communists
so that I never aquired any notions of
faith. Eventually ,when my mother took
me back I had heard the term :"jew"
without knowing what it meant. I under
took a years long search for my identity
all by myself. How I wish that AISH
HATORAH had existed then. I worked my
way back to my Jewishness and for that
I am forever grateful to H'and even
at this late date ,I am thankful for
Aish Hatorah and all its efforts to
disseminate yiddishkeit and provide
people like us who have never felt quite
like they belonged the long sought spiri
tual haven and the knowledge that we
needn't feel estranged because of our
background.
My most hearfelt appreciation and
thanks for the guidance and support
in every field of Yaadut that your
site provides . We need it so much.

(6)
Jim Coetzee,
October 21, 2002 12:00 AM

This book must be read

This is the best thing since sliced bread. Imagine being raised in Christianity with all its pagan ideas. Imagine discovering in your adult life that Christianity of which you were part off, is a false religion and then whilst searching for a truth, you discover that you were Jewish all along.
What utter joy that is. Baruch Hashem

(5)
Rebekah,
October 21, 2002 12:00 AM

This is My Life

I saw the caption, "Suddenly Jewish," and almost fell off my chair.

It was only in the last few weeks that I learned my true identity and I am 46.

My life has been some what of a parallel of yearning that equals the constant gnawing, searching, and knowing there is a missing puzzle piece.

I had always had a deep, willing-to-die-for-love, for the Jewish people and Israel. They are part of the tapestry of my soul from which I have been woven.

Before my brain knew, I knew. Celebrating Hanukkah and purchasing a menorah, dreidels and gelt for my child to take to "Show and Tell" in Christian school!! Listening to him say, "Nes Gadol Haya Sham," was a proud moment in my life. We sang, "Light The Menorah," and made potato latkes. Every book he and I chose from his reading list had Jewish undertones, which we did not realize at the time.

I run to my heritage and embrace it like an orphaned child, because now I am home at last.

It does not matter how little I know, I am eager to learn and I am home!!!

(4)
judith lilja,
October 21, 2002 12:00 AM

i'm looking too.

I truly found this article fascinating. I too have been searching. My mother is gone now and have no one to ask but when I was little I remember telling her when I grow up I will be Jewish. She said hush we don't talk like that . Forget about it .Do you want to cause trouble? She never told me for sure but often she would bake Jewish holiday goodies. She said it was just fun to try different things. There were times when she would meet people of the jewish faith on the street and they would talk and I would ask who was that? She would say someone I knew or I don't know It was a mistake. So I am still searching and will always wonder if indeed am I Jewish? What would I do with that knowledge if I found out? I can understand that deep gnawing yearning feeling as I have always felt it. In confidense unknown to their siblings my daughters have expressed these feelings also.

(3)
Paul Bender,
October 21, 2002 12:00 AM

Discovering one's Jewish roots.

I, too, was raised in a non-Jewish environment and discovered my "Jewishness" in 1996 when I was "only" 69 years old! My story has been published on page 23 of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin,mailing address: 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2A 1R9.

(2)
Joni,
October 21, 2002 12:00 AM

My Roots

My Siblings and I just found out recently that our Dad was Jewish.
He was raised in a Catholic orphanage because my Dad's dad died when Dad was only a month old. His mother remarried but became very ill and that is why all the children went to this orphanage.
Dad only had one aunt in this country his dad's sister and she and her family were always very secretive. My sister just happened to find some papers on my grandfather that said he came from Galicia (was between Poland and the Ukraine). We did find his sister out on Ellis Island and by doing lots of research we found out our roots were Jewish. I am 60 years old now and I really wish I had known who I was when I was young. It is funny because before I was married I had met a Jewish man and I do believe I would have gotten to know him better had I known my roots. I am divorced from the gentile I married. Not to say things would have turned out different but one never knows.
Also when I was a very small girl there was a long black almost like a thick picture frame in my grandma's basement (my mother's mom) and she told me it was from my Dad's father's coffin. It just disappeared and I don't have any idea what it was. Would anyone be able to help me with this. I have never seen anything like this at a gentile funeral.
Thank you for listening.

(1)
Rodrigo Sacca,
October 20, 2002 12:00 AM

Fascinating!

Growing up in a South American, prominently catholic country, where telling other people about being jewish was reprimended by our parents out of fear of us being targeted by jew-haters, I could hardly believe anyone would ever consider becoming a jew. The other way round seemed more likely, even some relatives of mine are proud catholics while bearing a jewish last name. It was not until I went to Israel when I met many people were not only interested in judaism, but were taking huge "inconviniences" to convert, that I got completely thunderstruck. Furthermore, the unabating expansion of teshuva movement was also amazing to me. What is so special that makes people want to change their ways of life and even forgo certain physical pleasures, I can't quite tell. The catalysts seem to be different in each case. One thing is for sure: nor the comforts of modern life or the safeties of the western world can fill the void most human beings feel when we have accomplished everything... My deepest gratitude goes to the staff at Aish haTorah for the wonderful job you are doing. May HaShem pour his blessings over you and everybody around you.
Rodrigo

Since honey is produced by bees, and bees are not a kosher species, how can honey be kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Talmud (Bechoros 7b) asks your very question! The Talmud bases this question on the principle that “whatever comes from a non-kosher species is non-kosher, and that which comes from something kosher is kosher.”

So why is bee-honey kosher? Because even though bees bring the nectar into their bodies, the resultant honey is not a 'product' of their bodies. It is stored and broken down in their bodies, but not produced there. (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 81:8)

By the way, the Torah (in several places such as Exodus 13:5) praises the Land of Israel as "flowing with milk and honey." But it may surprise you to know that the honey mentioned in the verse is actually referring to date and fig honey (see Rashi there)!

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

Occasionally, when I walk into an office, the receptionist greets me rudely. Granted, I came to see someone else, and a receptionist's disposition is immaterial to me. Yet, an unpleasant reception may cast a pall.

A smile costs nothing. Greeting someone with a smile even when one does not feel like smiling is not duplicity. It is simply providing a pleasant atmosphere, such as we might do with flowers or attractive pictures.

As a rule, "How are you?" is not a question to which we expect an answer. However, when someone with whom I have some kind of relationship poses this question, I may respond, "Not all that great. Would you like to listen?" We may then spend a few minutes, in which I unburden myself and invariably begin to feel better. This favor is usually reciprocated, and we are both thus beneficiaries of free psychotherapy.

This, too, complies with the Talmudic requirement to greet a person in a pleasant manner. An exchange of feelings that can alleviate someone's emotional stress is even more pleasant than an exchange of smiles.

It takes so little effort to be a real mentsch.

Today I shall...

try to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, and where appropriate offer a listening ear.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...